Dethalbum III Review

Released: Oct 16, 2012Genre: Melodic Death MetalLabel: Williams StreetNumber Of Tracks: 12
This is the third studio release from Brendan Small's creation, Dethklok. The songs are taken from the second through the fourth seasons of "Metalocalypse".

Dethalbum IIIFeatured review by: UG Team, on october 16, 2012 3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Sound: Brendan Small and Tommy Blacha created Dethklok in 2007 as a real band to play the songs written by the virtual band from the cartoon "Metalocalypse". After creating the band and releasing the first album in late 2007, "The Dethalbum", they charted at 21 on Billboards Top 100 list, being the most popular melodic death metal album to ever be released. Suddenly, people were buying death metal albums who had never been a fan of the genre before thanks to a cartoon and Brendan Small's comedic and musical genius. The follow-up to their debut release was the aptly titled "Dethalbum II" that came out in 2009. Dethklok has toured with Mastodon, Chimaira, and Converge among others. They had been scheduled to co-headline a tour in North America with Lamb Of God, but this was canceled due to Randy Blythe's legal troubles. In 2011, Dethklok played the Mayhem Festival in place of Megadeth. Currently they have a tour planned to begin in just a few weeks with Machine Head, All That Remains, and The Black Dahlia Murder. Though they started as a virtual band in a cartoon series they have since proved themselves through solid music and touring.
"Dethalbum III" has 12 tracks and clocks in at a little over 50 minutes. The album is mixed well, the guitar tones are great and the drums are intense. The album was recorded by Brendan Small, Gene Hoglan (who has also been on the previous two releases) and Bryan Beller on bass guitar. The music and lyrics are all written by Brendan Small, who also performs guitar, keyboards and vocals on the album. The melodies all have an almost epic quality more like "Dethalbum" than "Dethalbum II". The riffs stay engaging, and the guitar tone is awesome. The album was produced by Brendan Small and Ulrich Wild. The album definitely sounds less "death metal" than they have on previous releases to me the melody is much more pronounced and has more dominance in the mix. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, as the album is still heavy, pounding and chugging underneath the melody. The double bass pedal got a little old a few times, but I think that is just because of my personal distaste with double bass beats lately. // 8

Lyrics: Nathan Explosion... I mean Brendan Small... Does a great job with the vocals finding the delicate balance in black metal vocals where the lyrics are still discernible when listening. If you think of Dethklok as a gimmick (which a lot of people tend to want to do) you still have to admit that musically the songs are on par with any other melodic death metal releases coming out, and Brendan Small's vocals are definitely better than some well established bands in the genre. The lyrics, however, are all based around episodes of the cartoon series and occasionally delve into a good dash of humor which could turn a lot of death metal fans off the album but if you have listened to their previous releases then you should know what to expect. On the song "Ghostqueen" Brendan sounds like Lemmy doing death metal vocals.
The lyrics from the first single from the album, "I Ejaculate Fire" follows: "I ejaculate fire/ A venomous fluid, cantankerous druid/ it kills when I breed with my death seed/ checkmate, the world dies when I procreate/ a bloody mess bubbles with heat/ fear the splattering acidic de-mattering/ it burns! I'm fried to my loins/ testicular propane, tanks exploding! / I perpetuate bile/ a build up congestion/ epididymal retention/ my semen is flames/ flagellum is pain/ f*ck fate/ Earth's crushed from atomic weight/ with a hardened thrust/ deep in the core/ a seismic tunneling/ a rhythmic pummeling/ Incinerate! / The molten rock/ A rancid genetic/ cannon fire/ Murdering knew nothing outcast/ choke on gas/ kill my sperm/ fate won't lead fast enough/ come coagulating blackness/ when can I redecorate/ save for me the glorious death threats! / gasoline pumps through my heart/ poison coursing somewhere/ down in that place/ I feel the anger pulse again/ its been building/ its been building/ explode! / found my mission/ death ambition/ exploitation/ explode/ short edition/ new tradition/ extradition/ explode! / F*cking fear is contagious/ go spread my flames so fellatious/ f*cking fear is contagious/ explode!" // 7

Overall Impression: My favorite songs on the album are "Galaxy", "Ghostqueen" and "Skyhunter". I don't really have a least favorite song. The whole album is solid for what it is and very enjoyable. I would absolutely recommend purchasing this album if you enjoyed the previous releases by Dethklok, if you like "Metalocalypse", or if you want a gateway band to see what melodic death metal is about. I keep finding myself humming the intro melody from "Skyhunter", and that may be the first time I've found death metal music stuck in my head to find myself humming it. Even if Dethklok is a virtual band, this is an awesome album from beginning to end. I'm a bigger fan of the band, having heard this album. // 8

Dethalbum III
Reviewed by:
Bayon3twork, on november 02, 2012 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: Brendon Small has outdone himself again! This time with a bigger all out effort on "Dethalbum III". It has been three years since "Dethalbum II" was released and with plenty of music to choose from in that time, Small was able to redefine and polish Dethklok's sound. The album is a lot more melodic than previous attempts. Each song has a set flow and groove that is audibly magnificent. No song is the same yet they all seem to fit in the mold together leaving no song to bore the listener. The rhythm guitar riffs have been simplified from "Dethalbum II", but that's not to say that they are uninspired or uninteresting.
Every song on the album is so melodic and well paced that before you realize one song is over, the next song has snatched you in its groove. Songs like "The Galaxy" and "Rejoin" start slow and explode into a giant thematic song that kicks the energy into high gear. Small has definitely improved his musicianship tenfold in the past few years. His guitar writing is phenomenal; better than most metal musicians who are making their income strictly off of playing metal shows. His solos for songs are nearly impossible to play anymore. He has incorporated even more mind-bending sweeps, string skipping, and technical prowess in his solos, especially in "Crush The Industry" and "Ghostqueen", showing the best examples of his technique. Brendon switches up the formula slightly in songs like "Killstardo Abomniate" and parts of "Impeach God" to add even more aggressiveness to the album. These songs are more heavily influenced by death metal.
"Killstardo Abominate" is hands down, Small's most aggressively written song. The one thing that I wasn't fond of about "Dethalbum III" was the recording process. The ultimate sound was a little too processed and took away from the explosiveness of the band at times. This album is bassist Bryan Beller's first full recording with Dethklok and he makes his presence well known. In songs like Ghostqueen, the bass helps add the missing element of edge to the songs. It helps tie the loose ends of songs in an intuitive way, rather than just having someone else record the bass in another style. Beller is truly able to add his own input in songs. The hands down best songs on "Dethalbum III" are "Skyhunter" and "Biological Warfare".
"Skyhunter" adds instant energy and doesn't slow down until the last note is played. The layers of guitars are harmonized perfectly and flow into the main riff. The selling points of this song are the high paced drums mixed with the main riff. Although repeated throughout, this rhythm somehow doesn't lose it flavor. "Biological Warfare" is the gem of the whole album. I had no idea what to expect for this song. Although the song starts off in a typical Dethklok fashion, it hooks you in shortly after the solo. The riffs Small wrote for this song are the best riffs he has produced yet. The pattern shift of the drums behind the melodic guitar riff is so well executed and powerful, it threw me off, thus making it one of the two best songs on the album. The drums in the album were as usual excellent. Another job well done from Gene Hoglan.
I'm convinced that the guy is like a machine at this point. "The Hammer" is the slowest song on the album, drawing its inspiration from the early days of Dethklok. The song doesn't incorporate any keyboards and makes up for the lack of through the different small layers add in each bridge. This song is very reminiscent of "Dethalbum I", more specifically Castratikon. This song is another strongpoint of the album despite its slower nature. // 10

Lyrics: Like the transition from "Dethalbum I" to "II", Small changes the sound of vocals going into "III". At first listen, it's clear that this is even more of an improvement from previous albums. He maintains his own sound and adds more inflection into his voice this go around. He hits more lows and even some highs, which is very uncommon for Dethklok songs. The lyrics have become serious although retaining some humor like in "I Ejaculate Fire". "I ejaculate fire! / A venomous fluid, cantankerous druid/ It kills when I breed, with my deth seed." Small is even able to control the rhythm through his vocals in some songs such as "Andromeda" and "Rejoin". // 9

Overall Impression: This album is everything I was expecting and more. The guitar playing has been kicked up a notch while maintaining the amazing drum patterns. The bass has come around to be an important part fo the mixture and Small vocals have drastically improved. For those Klokateers that have been patiently waiting for "Dethalbum III", there was good reason to. Dethklok is back and more powerful than ever in their best effort to date. Small is just making it harder on himself from here on out. // 10

I'm pretty sure that it was Brendon Small (or somebody related to Dethklok) who requested the tabs be taken down, for whatever reason. Not UG.
Just search on google, they are around somewhere on there.

It was because he released a tab book with guitar tabs from Dethablums 1 & 2. It's kind of expensive, though. But if you really need to learn the songs, it's there. I think Songsterr has a few Dethklok tabs, so look there, too.

simply go on torrent search and download the tabs book using utorrent ... and before I get flamed, I bought the 3 dethalbums but theres no way im gonna buy an expensive tab book. imo tabs on here are made by users and should always be free, no exception

Completely agree. It's FAR too melodic now and extremely effects driven on guitar. Not to mention most of the songs are just boring now.
I loved the songs from the first 2 CDs because most of them were driven by an episode to relate to. I avtually believe that Brendon Smalls wrote the songs first, THEN wrote episodes around them.
Unfortunately, there were hardly any moments like that in season 3, where an entire episode cultimated around a song.
Look at season 1"
Awaken
Go into the Water
Murmaider/Thunderhorse
Fan Song
Birthdat Dethday
Kastraticron
Etc,
Season 2:
Laser Cannon Deth Sentence
Volcano
Bloodline
Gears
Black fire upon us
Comet Song
Dethsupport
Etc.
Strong songs based on strong episodes. There wasn't nearly enough of that in season 3. The 30 min episodes ended up hurting it in the long run. Thank goodness they went back to 10 min episodes....

I think this album is better then Dethalbum II. The songs are catchy and i love the melodic sound it has. I also love the direction the vocals are going in. My favorite on the album are Impeach God, Killstardo Abominate, and Skyhunter

I can't really find a song that sticks on this album at all. It's rather flat sounding in comparison to number 2, and doesn't have any songs that stand out like Murmaider II, and Laser Cannon Deth Sentence. Such a shame too.

This is kind of what I thought as well. It all starts to sound the same, even the few songs that DID stand out on the show (I'm thinking Crush the Industry and Impeach God specifically). I probably need to listen to it a bit more, but so far it's kind of sounding like a watered-down version of his solo album.

So I'm really digging the music but it does sound a bit sterile, I'm gonna go ahead and blame that on too much compression, you can tell the dynamics were a compromised for the sake of being really loud

i think this is a very good album, but i think its the same way about his solo album it just takes some time to grow on you. but you can definitely hear in this album how far he has come in terms of writing and production

i ****in love this album, i actually think it is really refreshing with the changes from melodic stuff to some atmospheric stuff. very, very solid album. really diggin the vocals too, i feel like its a combo of the dethalbum 1 and 2.

Production values of II and III FAR exceed the first album, even though those songs are classic cause they fit into the episodes so perfectly... not quite the case with III. Why Brendon didn't use the triplet bass pedal for the beginning of Crush the Industry is beyond me, the episode version is so much heavier it really makes the song. Starved, Andromeda, and Skyhunter are fantastic Dethklok songs. Overall a solid album, excited about the *spoiler* "masterpiece you have yet to write" they made reference to in the season ender. Also, one more Toki song in the episodes and I may blow my brains out, those are just awful, but thats moving too far away from the album...
DIE FOR DETHKLOK

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I liked the album when I listened to it once through. I then went back and watched the show to compare the songs on the show to the ones on the album and it made me realize that the album version kinda lost the heaviness that the original songs on the show had that made them sound more raw and not so digitally processed. I wish Brendan Small would come out with the recordings he had for the show.

For the show, allot of the music is all digital, decreasing it's overall... legitimacy, value. When he went and recorded the real albums, he pulled together a real band, he knows you don't release albums with computer generated instruments.. *rap*

Love the album. My only comment is the during some of the songs, they entirely drowned out the vocals with everything else. Everything else still sounds bad-ass, but still could have turned the vocals up a notch.

Starved, Andromeda, and Skyhunter are fantastic Dethklok songs. Overall a solid album, excited about the *spoiler* "masterpiece you have yet to write" they made reference to in the season ender.http://www.luxurygoodstore.com

Perhaps it takes time to get accustomed to the more melodic parts but I feel II was Dethklok's peak, now it sounds abit, just little tincy bit underwhelming after I relistened to Dethalbum II prior to its release. That being said its still a Dethklok album and its wicked!

This album is amazing. Like every Dethalbum, you really need to listen to 10 times for all the melody to start coming through. Skyhunter was an instant favorite along with The Hammer (Cyborg Slayers reprise?).

I just got paid $6784 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that's cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do, Fox92dotcom